Recessed spotlights in bathroom ceiling

[avrilr]

Hi there...

Can anyone advise me please? I'm considering having recessed spotlights fitted into upvc panels in the bathroom. My bathroom is quite small - about 2 metres square.

In my naivety, I thought this would be straightforward, but I rang one electrician who said I would have to have 'special' lights (i.e. not from B&Q and the like) to comply with Health and Safety Standards and the job would cost me around £450. I thought this was extortionate - can anyone tell me if that's the case, or am I living in the dark ages! lol

Thanks in anticipation!

 

[sparkwright]

Possibly he is talking about fire rated fittings.

Fitting downlighters to uPVC could cause melting.

 

[automationman]

That sounds like quite a profitable quote.....but not for you

You do need to choose recessed light for bathrooms carefully.

Considerations:

Maintain current fire, noise transmission integrity of ceiling.
In any case, I would use fire rated downlights (they do not stop the lamps from causing a fire but they help maintain the status of the ceiling (since holes will be cut into it)

Extra Low Voltage for electrical safety in any room containing a bath or shower (typically 12 volts) this typically (but not always) means using transformers for each light.

Energy conservation and cool running lamps
I would personally use GU10-LED lamps but there is a wide choice of LED and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) Do not use halogen lamps in a upvc ceiling

In general I am not in favour of widespread use of downlights as such but in a bathroom it's not such a bad idea.

The work is notifiable under part P of the building regs so you probably should use a registered electrician or you will have to notify your local area building control in advance and then have them inspect the work for a charge. they will fail the work if it does not comply to wiring regulations.

B&Q do have some downlights that would be appropriate and safe but they also have some that are not. You might try one of the trade sites where you post your job on the site and get quotes. Make sure any electrician you hire is registered for self certification (NICEIC, NAPIT, ALECSA, BRI etc) and thet you get both an electrical certificate on completion of the work and a building control certificate in the poast within 3-4 weeks.

 

[flameport]

You cannot fit halogen downlighters into a UPVC ceiling, as the ceiling will melt.

You can't just fit normal downlighters with LED lamps either, as someone could easily put halogen lamps in there at some later time.

The only option is to have downlighters which do not get hot (so LED most likely), and can only have one type of lamp fitted. Such things do exist, but are very expensive, so the £450 wouldn't be entirely unexpected.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's another consideration in bathrooms - cutting holes in the ceiling provides a great route for warm moist air to escape to somewhere colder where it can condense and cause rot and mould growth.

ELV is not a consideration - no need to use that type if you don't want to.

The main consideration though is that recessed spotlights are actually deliberately designed to not light up rooms, so trying to use them for that purpose is not a good idea.